262 
A S 
the moft fouthern part of Malacca, to the mod northern 
cape of Nova Zembla. It is bounded by the Frozen Ocean 
on the north; on the wed it is feparated from Africa by 
the Red Sea, and from Europe by the Levant or Medi¬ 
terranean, the Archipelago, the Hellefpont, the fea of 
Marmora, the Bofphorus, the Black Sea, the river Don, 
and a line drawn from it to the river Tobol, and from 
thence to the river Oby, which falls into the Frozen Ocean. 
On the ead it is bounded by thePacificOcean, or South Sea, 
which feparates it from America ; and on the font h by the 
Indian Ocean : fo that it is almod furrounded by the fea. 
Ada may be divided into the following parts ; Turkey 
in Ada, Arabia, Perfia, the Mogul’s Empire, w'itli the 
two peninfulas of the Indies; Tibet, China, and Korea; 
Great and Little Buckharia, with Korafan ; Tartary, Sibe¬ 
ria, and the iflands. The principal languages fpoken in 
Ada are, the modern Greek, the Turkifh, the Radian, 
the Tartarian, the Perdan, the Arabic, the Malayan, the 
Chinefe, and the Japanefe. The European languages are 
alfo fpoken upon the coads of India and China. The 
chief rivers of Ada are, the Euphrates and Tigris, in 
Turkey; the Indus, Ganges, and Burrampooter, in India; 
the Kiang and Hoang-ho, in China; the Sir Amu and 
Wolga, in Wedern Tartary; the. Saghalia Ula or Amur, 
in Eadern Tartary; the Irtilh, Oby, Jenifea, and Lena, 
in Siberia. The lakes are, that prodigious one called (he 
Cafpian Sea ; and near that another very large one, but 
lately known to 11s, called Aral, or the Lake of. Eagles. 
The Baikal is in Siberia; the Kokonor near Tibet; and 
the Tong Ping in China. The chief mountains are, the 
Taurus, inTurkey and Perda; thelmaus, between India 
and Tibet ; and the Altaic chain, in Tartary. The 
A da tic iflandl are very numerous, infomuch that fome 
reckon 150,000; but of this there is no certainty. How¬ 
ever, they may be divided into thofe of the ealf, wed, 
fouth, and fouth-ead. Thofe that lie on the ead of Ada 
are, the iflands of Jeflo or Yedfo, and Japan, with feveral 
fmall ones on the coad of Korea, the ifiand of Formofa, 
and the Philippines. Thofe on the wed are, the idand 
of Cyprus, in the Mediterranean ; Scanderoon, off Nato- 
lia; and the ifle of Rhodes, off Phifchio, on the fame 
coad.. Thofe on the fouth are, the ides of the Maldives, 
in the Indian Sea; the i ile of Ceylon, off Cape Comorin ; 
with a great many fmall ones in the gulf of Bengal. Thofe 
on the fouth-ead are, the ides of Sundi, as Sumatra, the 
ides of J ava, Borneo, &c. the Moluccas, the ifles of Cnm- 
baya, Timor, &c. Alfo the Kurile ifles, and of thofe in 
the fea of Kamfchatka, lately difcovered by tire Ruffians. 
For the hidory and particulars of all which, lee under 
their,refpeftive heads; fee alfo the article Geography, 
vol . viii. p. 3S 3 — 393, and 399—40+. 
With refpetft to the territory or extent of country meant 
in the New Tedament by the word Afia, numberlefs doubts 
and difficulties have arifen, becaufe it is faid, “ that all they 
which dwelt in Alia beard the word, See.” Aftsxix. 10. 
To which, with great reafon it has been objected, that, 
Ana being fo very extenfive, it was impollible, in fo diort 
a period, that the gofpel difpenfation could have been pro¬ 
mulgated through it. The learned authors of the Uni- 
verfal Hidory, and theaccurate Cellarius, have endeavour¬ 
ed to explain this fubjefl, which being of fome import¬ 
ance, we (hall give their obfervations in their own words. 
“ In reading the ancient hiftorians or geographers, we 
frequently meet with the following terms, viz. the Greater 
and Lelfer Alia, Afia Proper, or Afia properly fo called, 
the Lydian Afia, the Proconfuiar Afia, the Afiatic Diocefe. 
That vad continent which was known to the Greeks and 
Romans under the name of Afia, was divided by the an¬ 
cient geographers, fird, into the Greater and Lelfer Alia. 
The Lelfer, commonly called Afia Minor, comprehended 
a great many provinces; but that which included Phrygia, 
Myfia, Caria, and Lydia, was named Afia Propria, or Afia 
properly fo called. • Tally, in enumerating the regions 
contained in Alia Propria, makes no mention of ^olis or 
Ionia, though undoubtedly parts of Afia Propria, becaufe 
I A. 
they were comprehended partly in Lydia and partly in 
Myfia. Befides, the inland country, commonly known by 
that name, contained alfo the adjoining countries, both of 
Ionia, lying on the fea-fide, between the rivers Hermus 
and Maeander, and of yEolis, extending from Hermus to 
the river Caicus, according to Ptolemy ; or, according to 
Strabo, to the promontory of Leftum, the ancient boun¬ 
dary between Troas and the fea-coaft of the Greater Myfia. 
The remaining parts of ./Eolis and Ionia, are by Pliny, 
Strabo, Hellanicus, and Scylax, placed in Myfia; nay, 
Myfia itfelf, after the iEolians poffeffed themfelves of if, 
was commoniy called AEolis ; which Step'hanus not being 
aware of, makes Afl'os of iEolis a different city from Alios 
of Myfia near Antandrus. From what we have faid it is 
plain, that Afia Propria comprehended Phrygia, Myfia, 
Lydia, Caria, FEolis, and Ionia. This tradl was bounded, 
according to Ptolemy, on the north by Bithyniaand Pon- 
tus, extending from Galatia to Propontis; on the ealf by 
Galatia, Pamphylia, and Lycia ; on the fouth by part of 
Lycia and the Rhodian fea; on the weft by the Hellefpont, 
by the /Egean, Icarian, and Myrtoan, feas. It lies be¬ 
tween the thirty-fifth and forty-firft degree of north lati¬ 
tude, and extends in longitude from fifty-five to fixty- 
two degrees. 
“ As Afia Propria is but a part of Afia Minor, fo the 
Lydian Afia is only a part of Afia Propria. Afia, in this 
acceptation, comprehends Lydia, zEolis, and Ionia, accord¬ 
ing to the defeription we have already given of it, and is 
that Afia whereof mention is made in the A6ls and St. 
John’s Revelation. In the former, we read the following 
account of St. Paul’s journey : ‘ When they had gone 
throughout Phrygia, and the region of Galatia, and were 
forbidden of the Holy Ghofi: to preach the word in Afia, 
after they were come to Myfia they affayed to go into Bi- 
thynia, but the fipirit fullered them not. And they palling 
by Myfia came down to Troas.’ Where it is to be ob- 
ferved, that the Greater Phrygia, through which they 
paffed into Galatia, Myfia Olympena bordering upon Bi- 
tliynia, and Hellefpont, where Troas was fituate, though 
provinces of Afia properly fo called, are yet in exprefs 
terms diltinguifhed from the proper Afia of the Romans, 
as is likewife Caria. As thefe cities and countries did not 
belong to the Lydian Afia, fo what remains of Afia Pro¬ 
pria, together with the feven churches mentioned in the 
Revelation, were properly Lydia, or the Lydian Afia. In 
the firft place, Pergamus is placed by Xenophon in Lydia, 
and alfo by Ariftotle; who tells 11s, that Smyrna was at 
firlt polTcffed by the Lydians, and Scylax Coryandenfis 
reckons it among the cities of Lydia, as alfo Ephefus, 
wherein he agrees with Herodotus. Sardis and Philadelphia 
are reckoned by Ptolemy among the cities of Lydia, as is 
Laodicea by Stephanus. 
“ The Proconfuiar Afia, (fo called becaufe it was go¬ 
verned by a proconful,) according to the diftribution of 
the provinces of the empire made by Auguftus, compre¬ 
hended the following countries, viz. Lvdia, Ionia, Caria, 
Myfia, Phrygia, and the proconfuiar Hellefpont. And 
this is Ptoletpy’s Afia Propria. By the fame emperor, 
Pcntus and Bithynia were made a praetorian province, and 
Afia confular, containing all that part of Afia which lay 
on this fide the river Halys and mount Taurus. In the 
time of Conffantine the Great, the Proconfuiar Afia was 
much abridged, and a diftimftion brought in between the 
Proconfuiar Afia and the Afiatic Diocefe ; the one being 
governed by the proconful of Afia, and the other by the 
vicarius or lieutenant of Afia. The Proconfuiar Afia, ac¬ 
cording to the defeription which Eufebius gives of it, 
feems to have been much the fame with the Lydian Afia 
above-mentioned. In the reign of Theodofius the Elder, 
who fucceeded Valens, the Confular Hellefpont was taken 
from the vicarius of Afia, and added to the Proconfuiar 
Afia ; but, under Arcadius, the Proconfuiar Afia was 
abridged of all the inland part of Lydia. And this is the 
reafon why Palladius makes a diftindftion between the bi- 
Ihops of Lydia and thofe of Afia. Ho wever, the fouthern 
a part 
